Music Or The Misery
by elicitchaos
Summary: You’d think, after the complications from three years ago, that Fate would let things slide easily. In the case of Tear Grants, that’s not likely.


**Authoress' Notes:** Hey. First fanfic story on here. Well, not really. If anyone from other fandoms I've written before recognizes this name, I was once under the penname of **xKuroSeraphimx**. Yup. How be you? But, anyway, I hope you enjoy the fic.

**Disclaimer:** Tales of the Abyss is rightfully owned by the company Bandai Namco. I'm just using their characters for sport.

**Plot/Summary:** You'd think, after the complications from three years ago, that Fate would let things slide easily. In the case of Tear Grants, that's not likely.

**Music Or The Misery**

**By: elicitchaos**

-**Prologue: End Of A Dream**-

_"Why... are you here?"_

_"This place has a good view of Hod. And, also... I promised someone."_

_She felt her throat choke up, her body shivering. A dam had burst within her chest, and the tears fell, and her body began to move. She heard the others beginning to move forward as well, but her primary focus was on the man before her, the man that came back as a fire that would never burn out._

_She would have ran. She would have, had she not already been encased within his arms without her noticing. She had forgotten that the distance between them wasn't so far, that he was already walking towards her, but, she didn't mind. Tear Grants sighed in relief, a few more tears cascading down her cheeks and onto his shirt as she returned the hug, slowly, but, firmly._

Finally, finally, _her mind screamed - joy, happiness, relief, and love exploding throughout her whole being,_ after so long...

_After three long, agonizing years, Luke had-_

_"I'm sorry."_

_In that instant, time stopped._

_The moderate cold night of Tataroo Valley had submerged to a chilling degree as the ice that replaced the warm feelings within Tear as L- as "he" parted from her body, his emerald eyes downcast._

_Her mouth moved, yet her voice would not emerge from her lips. However, he saw the shock filling her eyes, the fear that, after all this time, things would not turn out "happily ever after"._

_"That," he spoke gently, too softly, too soft for his persona that he didn't know he was twisting the knife by sounding so much like __**him**__-- "was from him."_

_Tear's arms fell to her sides like lead as he brushed past her, long, crimson strands of hair lightly caressing her face. Their faces: Guy, Natalia, Anise, and even Jade - for he thought, a small glimmer of hope from the redhead's embrace, that_ he _had finally returned - mirrored the same expression of surprise and confusion Tear had. More so, Natalia looked indescribable as the red-haired man stopped in front of her, a small twinkle of happiness lighting in his eyes at the sight of her, yet, was still overlapped by the ripples of guilt and regret washing over them._

_And it was Natalia who broke the frigid silence that enveloped them with a single word:_

_"... Asch?"_

_Jade, Anise, and Guy immediately whipped their heads around to Tear, who, disturbingly had not turned her body to face them, yet. With alarm and flashes of his past - the guilts and regrets he made from even_ conceiving_ such a technology; what despair he knew he'd bring - Jade found himself making his way towards the melodist, as Guy and Anise watched in even more shock towards Asch's nod of confirmation._

_Natalia was beside herself, hands moving up to her mouth as though to prevent a scream that rose in her throat. A part of herself told her that she should be happy, that selfish, undeniably spoiled part of herself that_ she _had gotten the man she wanted._

_Yet--_

_Shaking her head, Natalia looked past Asch - or should she call him Luke? At the thought of him, all thoughts of her selfish person disappeared and was replaced by grief and sadness; for both him and... - and onto Tear, who, from what she could tell, was seemingly numb to whatever the Colonel was saying to her._

_Unnaturally unnerved by her behavior, Jade slapped a hand onto Tear's shoulder, "_Tear_," he spoke firmly, applying a bit of grip to his hand._

_That had finally done it. Snapping and blinking her eyes as though she had awoken from a stupor, Tear slowly turned her gaze to Jade's crimson orbs. She stared at him like it was the first time she had seen him before she shifted her attention to Guy and Anise, both who looked equally pained and confused. But, most importantly, the emotion that filled everyone's eyes that night, all five pairs of eyes centered on her, was..._

_Pity._

_Shaking her head, Tear fought her best to not give in to the sudden pressure of her head, the sudden fogginess of her eyes. She wanted to believe that this was a dream, wanted to believe that she would wake up and reset things... but, found herself to be staring at her own selfishness._

Idiot,_ a voice said to her, sneeringly, cynically_, don't be so selfish. Don't forget, he probably wasn't the only one who made a promise.

_There, everything crashed. Reality, realization, dreams, hopes... There, in that moment, as "Luke" finally turned his eyes to her, she saw so many things crash._

_She saw, and, despite the tears welling within her eyes, she smiled back at him._

_The end of a dream._

_---_

So, there you go. Please tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated. More reviews equals a faster update, after all!_  
_


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